Marshmallow Tea
by fukuji mihoko
Summary: Cornelia didn't intend to get lost. Neither did she intend to run into one of the most charming demons she had ever met. Life was, she decided, very confusing.  :Cornelia/Ronove:


**Marshmallow Tea  
**Part One

'Just One Disaster After Another'

* * *

Cornelia was not having a very good day. Then again, not many of her days could be categorised as 'good'.

To begin with, she'd arrived to work late, through no fault of her own. Her alarm clock hadn't gone off, even though she _swore _by Dlanor's sword of red truth she'd set it properly the night before.

Then, she hadn't been able to find her shoes. Cornelia was typically scatterbrained, and had taken to writing down where she placed everything. However, even her trusty list had gone missing, though she _always _kept it on her bedside table.

When Cornelia finally found all the correct pieces of her uniform scattered about her house- though she had to make do with wearing a pair of old sneakers instead of her standard issue black shoes, as said shoes had been found buried in her garden- she was already an hour late.

And, she had remembered with a sinking heart, there was an important meeting on that day.

When she burst into the meeting room she caused quite a spectacle. Her hair had been uncombed, her face beet red, with the wrong shoes on her feet and her hat on backwards.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I'm so sorry!" she had squeaked, mouse-like, bowing over and again until she thought her back would break. Her eyes had been shut the whole while; she had been afraid to open them, for fear of seeing Gertrude's disapproving face- or, worse still, Dlanor's empty eyes.

"Let it be known that you were not given permission to speak," Gertrude had said.

"You are one hour and fifteen minutes late precisely, CORNELIA," Dlanor added. Her voice was emotionless- as was the expression on her face. "You are holding up our MEETING."

"Let it be known that you are incompetent," said Gertrude. At least _her_ expression was easier to read; her eyes were narrowed (weren't they always?), and she was frowning ever so slightly.

Cornelia had jumped, still squeaking, as those words slammed into her from all sides. Being scolded in front of so many people was more painful than being impaled by blue spears in battle, or combating the merciless red swords of witches.

Cornelia didn't have much practical experience when it came to combat with witches or demons, but at that moment, she had found Gertrude and Dlanor much more frightening.

"A-allow me to speak! I, Cornelia, am very sorry for my lateness! I-I apologise!"

Shame-faced and teary-eyed, with her hat still on backwards and her shoes still _wrong,_ Cornelia stood and absorbed the verbal blows of the other assembled members of Eiserne Jungfrau for a good five minutes.

Then, bowing meekly, the young girl had been allowed to take a seat next to the disapproving Gertrude.

Cornelia had hoped that would be the extent of her humiliation for one day- but 'hope' was naïve, and Cornelia knew it was _always _possible for things to get worse.

During the conference, she developed a rather bad case of hiccups, and every pained squeak she tried to terribly to muffle only resulted in more angry glares and rolled eyes.

Then, when it was her turn to speak, she tripped over her words, dropped her notes, and _then_ tripped over her own feet trying to pick them up.

And, to add the cherry on the icing of the cake of despair, she accidentally stepped on Dlanor's- _Death Sentence Dlanor, _the most admired member of Eiserne Jungfrau and Cornelia personal hero- feet and very nearly pushed the senior member head-first into the water fountain.

Therefore, it did not surprise Cornelia very much when Dlanor came to have 'a little CHAT' with her at her workstation.

"…Cornelia. Is everything ALRIGHT?"

"L-let it be known that I am fine!" Cornelia replied, flushing like a forest fire. She was so overcome with fear and admiration at Dlanor's presence, Cornelia very nearly stapled her thumb instead of the reports she had been given.

"It appears you have made an ERROR," said Dlanor, pointing at one of Cornelia's finished reports, all filled out in Cornelia's painstakingly neat, cursive handwriting.

"A-an error?"

"INDEED. These claims of an illegal locked room mystery were reported by Miss SAKINE. Not Mr SHION."

"Allow me to speak! I apologise for my folly!" Cornelia apologised, for what had to be thirtieth time that day. She bowed deeply, to show the level of her repentance- and hit her head on the table.

"CORNELIA."

At the sound of her own name, spoken in such authoritative tones, Cornelia immediately stopped nursing her head.

"Y-yes?"

She turned to face Dlanor attentively, trying to look professional. However, she was still trembling, ever so slightly.

"…"

For the briefest of moments, Cornelia thought she saw a trace of pity cross Dlanor's stoic, ivory face.

…And then it passed.

It passed so quickly Cornelia wasn't sure it had ever existed t all.

There was a small pause.

Then, Dlanor said, in her usual tones, "Please vacate the 7th Repentance Agency of the Great Court of Heaven for TODAY. Your work is DONE."

Cornelia's eyes widened ever so slightly, until they were so large she looked like a cartoon character.

Was Dlanor dismissing her?

Was this… a punishment for her incompetence?

"A-allow me to speak! I-I apologise, Miss Dlanor- I will do my best, so-"

"NO."

"H-huh?"

"You are acting UNPROFESSIONALLY. You are in danger of becoming a LIABILITY. "I am ordering you to return home and get some rest, CORNELIA. You can be of no help to us in your current STATE."

There was no arguing with Dlanor's tone of voice. It was cold- unmoving- marble-like; just like the great Death Sentence Dlanor herself.

"…Let it be known that I understand."

And, her eyes shining with unshed tears, her face red with shame, Cornelia left.

* * *

Even though Cornelia had been ordered to go home, she soon found she couldn't comply with those commands. This was strange for a number of counts- first and foremost, because Cornelia _couldn't_ ignore the commands of her superiors. Disobedience resulted in being fired- even, in the worst case scenarios, being executed for heresy against the Great Court of Heaven.

That thought alone was enough to scare Cornelia into following orders, no matter how unpleasant they were.

However, fear was not the only motivating factor for Cornelia. She was greatly respectful of Dlanor A. Knox; most of the younger members of Eiserne Jungfrau were. Dlanor had an air of authority about her no other person had, and the tales of her exploits were so great she had a large number of fans.

Cornelia was one of them.

As such, she would _never_ have willingly disobeyed one of Dlanor's orders.

She never intended to become hopelessly, _helplessly_ lost.

It just _happened._

No matter where Cornelia focused her red eyes, all she could see was an endless white hall. It didn't seem to have an end; instead, it repeated itself over and over again as though reflected through a mirror.

"L-let it be said that I am lost…" Cornelia said softly, more to herself than anyone else. She didn't expect anybody to hear her- much less respond. She could, after all, see no one but herself.

…But, contrary to her beliefs, somebody _had_ heard.

And they certainly intended to respond.

A single golden butterfly formed before her very eyes, fazing into existence as though it had always been there to begin with.

Cornelia's breath caught in her throat at this sight, and she took a step back. Surely this 'magic' was the work of demons or witches- heretics that, under strict legislation from the 7th District Repentance Agency of the Great Court of Heaven, had to be brought to justice under all costs!

Why, though, had a demon or witch decided to show itself so casually before her? She was a proud member of Eisenre Jungfrau. Her will and resolve was iron. Her justice was unshakable. It was in her contract to bring a swift and merciless death upon all magical monsters using the stakes of red and blue truth to deny their existence and damn them to hell!

So why would such a creature expose itself to her…?

Surely, they were a very stupid witch or demon.

Or maybe they had a death wish.

Or, perhaps…

A rather horrible thought occurred to Cornelia.

_Maybe they don't take me seriously because I'm new to my profession… Maybe they think I'm a weakling compared to Gertrude and Dlanor._

_A pushover._

_A failure._

_A joke._

_If that's the case…_

_Let it be known that I, Cornelia, am __**more**__ than a match than any witch or demon, regardless of their power! Let it be known that the strength of my resolve is great enough to defeat any threat, no matter how powerful! _

To Cornelia, it did not matter where she was, or who had brought her there, or why the magical creature before her was acting so irrationally. Neither did she care for their opinion of her skills, or if they had any erroneous assumptions regarding her talent.

Cornelia's eyes glowed saturated crimson.

The only thought on her mind was eradication.

Expulsion.

_Extermination._

Demons and witches were like rats- vile creatures that could only exist by skirting through the shadows, avoiding the glances of humans. In this manner, they could propagate their evil by leaving vague 'proofs' of their flimsy existence with gnawed skirting boards and holes in the carpet. But these 'proofs' were weak. If the rat was driven out of its hole and into the sunlight, it would have nowhere left to hide. And if any member of Eiserne Jungfrau came across such a rat, trapped in a room with no shadows, they would terminate their half-lives easily, with just a few blows of cold, hard red truth.

Cornelia narrowed her glowing eyes.

She would defeat this villain and regain her honor! She would make Dlanor A. Knox- Death Sentence Dlanor, the harbinger of doom and destruction for all demonic creatures- proud of her!

She was a strong member of Eiserne Jungfrau…

…And it was her duty to fight.

"Let it be known that _it is my duty to defeat you_," said Cornelia coldly, using the same emotionless tones she had heard Dlanor use so many times before. Her final words were given a bright red color, as the characters spun about her dainty frame. "Let it be known that I will spare you no mercy."

A silence met Cornelia's words.

She wondered whether her declaration of war had frightened the demonic presence away. However, this thought was in vain.

The single, shimmering butterfly quivered, suspended in the air, before it exploded-

"Pu ku ku~ How _interesting_~"

-into thousands of points of bright gold light.

* * *

**a.n: **I love Cornelia. She has no fics.  
I love Ronove. He has… barely any fics.  
So I put them together XD~  
Actually, there's a better reason for this pairing I have than that, but I'm not going to go into it- it's just an idea my brain threw at me at some point, that I thought would be fun to write down XD

This will only be 2-3 chapters long. I doubt too many people are interested in a bizarre crack pairing like this (umineko has soo many characters... why are there not MORE crack pairings like this? XD), but if any are, I hope you enjoy it ^_^;;  
If you liked it, please tell me /^o^/

**~renahhchen xoxoxo**


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